• Thank-you for posting my query. I'll give you a little background information if that is OK. Frederick's father Thomas had 9 children [all in Madeley], the last one in 1825 when he was a hairdresser. In 1823 and before that, he was a china painter [according to his children's christening records]. He was married in Wellington. Apparently, then, it was a yuppy thing to get married away from home!! His best man was a John Roden. On www.sfhs.org.uk/Inns1828.asp  - if one scrolls 80% down the long list, one comes up with WELLINGTON and in this section under maltsters there is a Thomas Poole - Walker Street and directly below it John Roden - Parker Street. I don't know whether this is sheer coincidence, because in the 1851 census he was still a 'Hairdresser and Town Crier' of Ironbridge; or maybe he moved up there after 1825 and moved back before 1851?? It seems strange that Thomas's son - Frederick was an Innkeeper and in 1875 Frederick's son Thomas William Poole was a "Beer House Keeper" in Stoke-on-Trent when T.W.Poole got married. There seems to be too many coincidences for me. Very frustrating. With regard to why I put 54?, for the address; I am not sure whether the numbering system in the census refers to the 54th house or 54 Coalbrookdale, hence the ?. Coalbrookdale appeared in the street column on a previous page. There was no street name on page 15 or 16 of this census, just 'Ironbridge' at the top of the page, and 51 and 54 for my forefathers' homes.
  Richard Poole Howick, New Zealand 17th December 2003

• The Bath Tavern was in technically in Madeley, just a short distance away from Ironbridge. The parish of Ironbridge was formed in 1845 from the parish of Madeley. Although closed as a public house, I believe the property is still standing on Bath Road [formerly called Bath Lane]. The extract to the left is taken from a trade directory dated 1851. Your ancestor's full name was Frederick William Bathurst Poole. The son of Thomas Parker Poole and Isabella Glazebrook, he was born in Madeley around 1814. He was recorded as a publican in 1841. He kept the Bath Tavern with his wife Martha. One year his senior, she was also born in Madeley. Their children Elizabeth and Thomas were living at the pub in 1851. The family later moved to Broseley where Frederick and Martha kept another tavern. I wondered whether this was the Crown and Sceptre Inn as the family had an interest in this house but Slater's directory of 1868 lists Frederick Poole at the Station-Inn at Ironbridge. By 1871 Frederick Poole was working as a butcher at Church Hill in Madeley. Roll on another ten years and he was recorded as a retired innkeeper living in Kidderminster with his wife Martha. He died in the carpet manufacturing town in 1893. Kieron

One of my ancestors lived at the Rising Sun in Dawley in 1867, an Isaac Vaughan. I wonder if anyone has any information or photographs of this pub, or if it is still there maybe under another name?
Freda Brookes Dawley, Telford 26th August 2004

• The Rising Sun Inn was located in Dawley Green Lane [later Dawley Road] and was a beer house. Your ancestor Isaac Vaughan, a former miner and charter master born in the local area, kept the house for many years in the mid-19th century. He and his wife Eunice had earlier lived in Old Park Road when he pursued his earlier career. They moved to the Rising Sun Inn during the 1860's. By 1871 the couple had eight children living on the premises. The three eldest sons, Thomas, Noah and Enoch, all worked as miners. William Vaughan however worked with his father at the Rising Sun Inn. It would appear that Isaac had remarried because in the census of 1881 he was living with a woman called Emma. It was with her that he later moved further along Dawley Road where he worked as a waggoner and shopkeeper. Edward Bailey was running the Rising Sun Inn during the early 1890's. Kieron